Ministers say new border bill upholds rights while limiting asylum claims

Critics and advocacy groups are calling the wide-ranging border security legislation a threat to civil liberties in the immigration and asylum system.

Safeguards have been written into the government’s border bill to ensure civil rights and due process are upheld in proposed immigration regulations, Immigration Minister Lena Diab said Wednesday.

Critics and advocacy groups are calling the wide-ranging border security legislation a threat to civil liberties in the immigration and asylum system.

One proposed change in the legislation would prevent people from making asylum claims if they’ve been in Canada for more than a year.

That change would not affect applications that have been submitted already but would be retroactive to June 3, assuming the bill becomes law.

Diab said there would still be opportunities for asylum seekers who have been in Canada for more than a year to make their case through measures like pre-removal risk assessments.

“There’s a lot of applications in the system and so this is will streamline it to ensure that those newcomers, or those people that really need our protection and use the asylum system, are processed faster,” she said.

Justice Minister Sean Fraser also pointed to the pre-removal risk assessment clause as a safeguard that helps ensure the bill upholds individual rights and freedoms.

“We went through the bill to make sure that we have the tools that are necessary to protect the integrity of the border, also to protect rights of Canadians and to be in compliance with the Charter,” Fraser said on his way into Wednesday’s caucus meeting.